Ms. Jazz Reviews: Overseas Restaurant @ Jalan Imbi

from augustdinersfoodblog

There are large quantities of Chinese restaurant in Kuala Lumpur that I can’t begin to name them. Each has similar settings and food offerings. But those among the cliques often go to the same ones, so it was very common to bump into the industries players whom most are very typical china man who still prefers Chinese cuisine among the rest.

Overseas in Jalan Imbi has been one of those establishment which has been around forever (over 30 years) and yet there seem no end to their business fostering. But I could not say the same for their other outlets for I’ve only frequent this particular one since young. From what I’ve heard their other outlets did not flair as well.

Good thing about this restaurant is that they offer many private rooms (about 20+ of them), not that there’s anything wrong with having dinner in the main dining room. It just gives people a sense of exclusiveness and privacy so naturally these rooms are very much in demand.
The problem with this place is the parking, with very limited space along the main street, your best bet is to hand over the keys and let the valet do the job, why make yourself suffer no ends when the valet only cost you RM4.

Although I frequent this restaurant for the past years, my orders often did not steer away too far. The usual suspect on the table would be their Char Siew, Claypot Pork Belly with Salted Fish, Baby Duck, and steamed fish

Oversea’s Char Siew is one of the MUST order during each visits, and pre-order is advisable. One could not get enough of the sticky gooey but yet wonderfully fattening meat. There was a good balance between lean and pork fats, being not too fat and not too skinny is one sense of achievement. I should know as I’m still trying to achieve the very thing with my own body weight. =P

P.S. My absolute favorite dish in this restaurant is a well-kept secret to most. “HOI SIONG YONG LAM” a translation to lamb stew above the sea. Does that even make sense? No bother because this creation will bring you totally over the sea and under. With not many ingredients inside apart from some beancurd skins and lamb pieces, it was the soup base that we enjoyed very much. Filled with aroma and flavours of “FU YU”, the soup combines well with lamb as the heavy flavours of fu yu overwhelmed any lamb after taste that some dislike. The time I introduced this to some friends during one of our dinners there, they loved it so much that they demand for more soup. (Which was allowed by the restaurant with no additional cost)

We’ve always enjoyed the roasted baby ducklings here. Glossy Crispy Thin Skin, and I thought to myself, this is few very skinny duck here! Not much flesh, but the meat were mostly lean. It doesn’t bother me much as I’ve always prefer duck with less meat and more Skin! It was one intense battle on the table once being served, naturally everyone wants to fight for the best part. Family or not, this is no exception.

Braised Mexican Abalone. For RM250 it was O-K but it was definitely not the better ones I’ve had. Braised with superior sauce with steam broccoli as a side, This Mexican abalone has a slight softer texture and lacks the bite so eminent to a good abalone (my opinion) Flavor wise did not blew me over the top too.

Steamed Soon Hock Fish was very delicious. Mom commented that the fish steaming technique in Overseas has been consistent over the past 20 years and I couldn’t have agreed more. The doneness of the fish was just right, and the flesh was tender and not at all flaky. The soya sauce was at a right level of saltiness that does not over whelm such a fresh tasting fish.

Dark Soya Prawn is one of Oversea’s specialty too and is a favourite for my baby twin sisters. Roll up your sleeve, and napkin on your lap, because this is going to be one messy eat. (unless you are a seasoned prawn eater like me who just uses fork and spoon) OKOK, minus the perasan-ness, the flesh was juicy and rich in flavours that you can’t help to lick your fingers dry.

“TIN HA DAI YAT” Fried Rice aka World No. 1’s. Wow, this is one huge claim and I had to see whether they lived up to their name. This fried rice would be a hit with the vegetarians, filled with spring onions and yam, with the use of overnight rice. It was very well prepared. I wouldn’t call it as World’s No. 1, but good enough to be Jalan Imbi’s No. 1. *laughs*

Ratings:

Food: 8/10

(One of my favourite home-cooked chinese cuisine, food delivery is always consistent)

Note: dishes that requires pre-order, roast ducklings, lamb stew, char siew, and dark soya prawn

Service: 6.5/10

Ambience: 6/10

(good for casual dinners with family)

Presentation of Food: 6/10

Overall ratings: 7/10

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Overseas Restaurant

84-88 Jalan Imbi

KL

Tel: 03-2148 7567

Easy Apple Cake

Fruit.

I know. You contingency be wondering whats wrong with me.

Me too, yet dont worry. Wait til we see how this recipe ends up.

I got it from the crony who got it from his mother who got it from someone during church who got it from someone who likes apples we guess.

Anyway, it sounded flattering tantalizing as good as easy. Easy being the key word here because we spent most of the week end perplexing to get all together which Im starting to need for the upcoming Cupcake Camp as good as Cake Pops Book Tour. Yeah, theyre both right around the corner. Like subsequent week end around the corner. Hope we guys come by as good as contend hi!

Please pardon me for the following if we do.

The categorical characters have been chopped apples, walnuts as good as dates. Innocent enough. Good for we even.

After we mix up the baked sweat bread batter, stir in the chopped walnuts. (I like cave upon the small side.)

Chopped dates tossed in flour.

And diced apples. Stir them all together as good as afterwards bake in the 13 X 9 vessel for about 40-45 minutes during 350.

Take it out of the oven as good as w! hen cool , poke holes in the baked sweat bread so the commanding we have been about to supplement can trickle inside as good as keep it cozy.

P.S. Remember how the baked sweat bread looks here. we should have tasted it during this stage. Im certain it was already yummy.

But afterwards we total the topping.

Butter, brownish-red sugarine as good as milk oh dear.

Heat it upon the stove until it starts to bubble.

Remove as good as flow the little over the cooled cake.

Here we go.

Hey we pronounced some

Not the waterfall. Yikes. we dont know what happened.

Yes we do. we was perplexing so hard to get the good pouring shot receiving pictures as good as balancing as good as pouring during the same time, we didnt notice which we bathed the baked sweat bread in brownish-red sugar.

Bathed as in drenched.

But may be thats okay with you.

It is with me. we just need to have the dentist appointment right away : )

Seriously though, lift behind upon the pouring. You shouldnt nee! d all th e commanding as good as may be not any. we theory Ill have to have it again to know for sure.

Easy Apple Cake

3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups oil
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups diced apples
1 crater chopped dates rolled in flour
1 crater chopped walnuts

Topping
1 crater brownish-red sugar
1/2 crater butter
1/4 crater milk

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In the middle bowl, differentiate together flour, baking soft drink as good as cinnamon with the wire whisk as good as set aside.
• Combine sugarine as good as oil regulating the mixer until blended.
• Add eggs as good as vanilla, mixing until combined.
• Add flour reduction as good as mix well.
• Stir in nuts, dates as good as apples. The beat will be really thick.
• Pour in to the greased as good as floured 9 X 13 vessel as good as bake for 40-45 minutes or until done.
• Cool baked sweat bread as good as regulating the skewer, poke holes in cake.
• Cook commanding reduction upon stove until reduction bubbles.
• Pour commanding over baked sweat bread vouchsafing the little (ha more if we like) trickle in to the cake.

Enjoy!

Apple Tarte Tatin

Everything about this Apple Tarte Tatin is the great idea.

Everything except the scalding prohibited sugar, the super complicated 400 grade expel iron skillet as well as the fact which we somehow have to flip which skillet as well as all of the essence out onto the portion platter.

Ok maybe not eeeeeverything about this spicy is the great thought But! The French have been we do this for an perpetuity as well as they know the thing or dual about how to have butter as well as sugarine delicious.

So, lets only say which many things about this spicy is the great idea. Im tellin ya blazing your mouth of super prohibited tarte tatin since we cant wait for to slice in to the darn thing!? Totally value it.

Man we finished this recipe tempting didnt it!?

Jill as well as we have been during it again

Apples. we used dual sorts. Granny Smith since theyre organisation as well as spicy (just similar to me ew) as well as Fuji Apples since they hold up to baking as well as they taste similar to apple honey.

Salted melted butter is total with plain old sugar.

Theyll date for the while, get engaged, get in the hulk freak-out fight, have up, buy the couch, get married afterwards spin in to the many lovely, golden pickled caramel youve ever seen.

Did we mention which wedged as well as stacked apples have been the part of the butter as well as sugarine courtship?

Duh.

Butter as well as sugarine as well as apples. The part of their relationship where they buy the couch.

Puff fritter is the final addition to the apple as well as caramel marriage. It the topper. Its time to shine is in the oven.

What we have here is about 25 pounds of expel iron, baked apples, caramel as well as flaky crust. Its about the million degrees. Thats super hot.

Wait until the expel iron is about half the million degrees prohibited afterwards flip the apple tarte tatin onto the ugliest red image we can find.

Actually the flattering white image would better. Why didnt any one discuss it me that?

Awkward.

Apple Tarte Tatin

Print this Recipe!

1 piece all-butter smoke pastry, thawed but still cold

7 apples (I used Granny Smith as well as Fuji)

1 hang (4 ounces) pickled butter

1 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 374 degrees F. Place the cookie piece in the oven too.

Peel, core as well as entertain the apples. You competence be tempted to cut the apple pieces smaller which quarters. Dont. The apples will prepare down considerable when baked so youll wish to keep the pieces good as well as big. Set aside. If the apples brown only the bit while theyre waiting to be baked thats all fine.

Melt butter in the 10-inch, complicated bottom complicated all over expel iron skillet. Remove butter from the feverishness as well as drive in the sugar. The reduction will be thick. Just widespread it uniformly over the bottom of the expel iron.

Arrange the apple buliding in the vessel by stacking the piece! s in the round along the outward of the vessel as well as operative we way in. Pack the apples in tight as they will prepare down when theyre baked upon the stovetop. Save any additional apple buliding to add to the spicy as it cooks upon the stove as well as more room frees up.

Return the vessel to the stovetop as well as prepare over middle tall feverishness for 10 minutes. Be certain to keep the fire during middle high, letting the sugarine bring to boil as well as caramelize. The tall feverishness will help the sugarine caramelize as well as the apples prepare during the scold rate. A reduce feverishness will mangle down the apples prior to caramelizing the sugar. we know the scary but middle tall is the way to go.

While apples have been cooking, mislay as well as reveal smoke pastry. On the easily floured surface, kindly roll out smoke pastry, fluctuating it about 1/2 to 1-inch upon all sides. This wont require the lot of rolling during all. Find the cooking image about the size of the 10-inch expel iron skillet. Place the cooking image upon tip of the smoke fritter to make use of as the measuring guide to cut out the circle. Cut the fritter about 1/2-inch bigger than the plate. The additional dough youll only tuck in to the expel iron. Place the smoke fritter in the fridge until the apples have been finished cooking.

Check apples after 10 minutes. The caramel should be close. Add any additional apple buliding if we find we have room. Let apples as well as caramel prepare for another 5 minutes. Keeping an eye upon the caramel color. There is no need to stir or otherwise disquiet the caramel or apples only watch.

After 15-18 mins upon the stovetop, mislay the vessel from heat. Careful this will be prohibited as well as heavy.

Carefully place the smoke fritter over the prohibited apples, tucking in to the edges of the smoke pastry. Dont be concerned if the not well-spoken as well as perfect itll bake up only fine. Place the expel iron upon tip of the prohibited cookie piece in th! e oven a s well as bake for 20-30 minutes, until the fritter is puffed as well as golden.

Remove from the oven as well as allow to cool for thirty minutes.

Run the blade along the edges of the expel iron to have certain which nothing of the smoke fritter edges have been sticking to the pan. Place the large image upon tip of the expel iron and, regulating dual hulk pot holders, upset the image as well as pan. You should hear or feel the small drop as the spicy falls onto the place. Life the expel iron as well as we should have the beautiful tarte tatin.

If any apple slices stuck to the expel iron, only mislay them with the flare as well as place them right behind in the tart.

Perfect! This spicy is best served warm but keeps for the day during room temperature.

Belle-Île en mer, la Bien Nommée

from La Tartine Gourmande by Béa

“Belle-Île en mer, la Bien Nommée. Je rêvais de te visiter depuis déjà tant d’années…alors voilà, c’est maintenant chose fait.

Je peux te le dire par avance, c’est sûr, on reviendra. Même dès l’année prochaine, si on a de la chance…”

“Belle-Île en mer, the Well Named. I had been dreaming of visiting you for so long….it’s now a thing done.

I can already tell you that we will be coming back. As soon as next year even, if we are lucky…”

Scallops stew–Views of gorgeous beaches–Galettes fines de Belle-Île en mer (Buckwheat cookies)

There was so much to discover on the island. There was so much beauty to love. We had two long weeks to embrace it all.

“Regarde le gros bateau !” (Look at the big boat!) I told Lulu as I was holding her hand while pointing at the ferry that was entering the harbor in Le Palais, the largest town on the island. She was standing straight. Not moving. She was staring at the tall white boat that was slowly making its way through the calm waters of the harbor, with its passengers looking minuscule from a distance. She was waiting for her papa. He was coming to meet us for the rest of our stay on the island.

Surely, if she had known the words, she would have told him about what she had already seen after a week: beautiful beaches where she liked to run in tidal puddles; wild black currants that grew wild everywhere and that made me wish I could have made jam; the small brown dog that visited the house every time we ate dinner on the patio; the red cat that liked to laze on the roof of an old Peugeot to enjoy the warmth of the late summer sun; the fresh baguette and sablé breton mamie and papie sneaked into her hand each morning on the way back from the market. She had got used to all these things. And I know she wanted to share them with him. But instead, she gave him a generous kiss on the face.

A happy smile.

Shared hugs.

Lighthouse at La Pointe de Poulains–Apple crumble

I grew up with the dream that one day, I would visit Belle-Île en mer, one of the picturesque islands located off the west coast of France. Probably because the west coast is my favorite French coastline by far; because Brittany makes me love the feeling of wearing Wellington boots and a raincoat on the beach; and because I am always hungry for galettes, savory crêpes made with blé noir (buckwheat) traditional of the area.

There was plenty more.

I told P. that the island looked like Ireland. Locals told us so too. I found the vegetation reminiscent of places I had visited in New Zealand and on the coast of New England as well. After all, there was a time when those two places only formed one.

I knew P. was going to fall in love with Belle-Île en mer as much as I did.

Rougets grillés (Grilled mullets)

Quickly, we developed a pleasant routine, one I loved getting used to. In the mornings, we enjoyed coastal walks and walked to the market; we cooked simple homemade foods; we napped with Lulu and played in the water and sand with her. It was really easy to soak in the casual island lifestyle, and the details that give charm to the place.

There was the magnificent Plage de Donnant with its gigantic impressive cliffs, dangerous surf and extreme tides; and not far, the picturesque beaches of Herlin and Baluden. We knew that Lulu would find her sandbox minuscule forever after playing there.

I made friends with the cute brown and white cows that looked tranquil and undisturbed, no matter what seemed to happen around them.

We ate far breton made with local milk. I cooked apple crumbles and baked flognardes aux pommes (apple clafoutis) prepared with Reinette apples from the region. Everywhere across the region of Brittany, apple juice and cider are widely produced.

View of the harbor in Sauzon

Every day, our lunch or dinner menu included fresh fish purchased at the morning market held on the town square. I discovered pouce-pieds (thumb-foot), a strange-looking shellfish that lives in agitated waters near rocks. And I could not get enough of langoustines (scampi) and scallops with its pretty-colored orange coral–which I am never able to find in the States. One night, I made a langoustine, pea and watercress risotto for dinner. And a langoustine and fennel salad. Another night, we enjoyed a dish of sauteed scallops stewed in a coconut and lime broth with flavors of coriander, ginger and garlic. We found ourselves quickly addicted to this daily taste of incredible seafood.

Langoustine, pea and watercress risotto

There was also the scrumptious fromages de chèvre de Sauzon (fresh soft goat cheese) I bought in numbers. They brought childhood memories of Heidi, the TV series I never missed when I was only nine. I was secretly dreaming of living Heidi’s life in the mountains and eat fromage de chèvre with her grand-papa the way she did.

Araignée de mer (Spider crab)

Fennel and langoustine salad

Most days were sunny and mild. We visited the beautiful sites of Port Coton and La Pointe des Poulains, stopping at Chez Renée’s on the way back for a galette. Theirs were thin and crispy, with a wide range of delicious stuffing no matter what we choose. One day, I had mine stuffed with scallops, crème fraiche and leeks. The next time I chose fromage de chèvre and honey while P.’s had andouille and Lulu preferred a galette complète (a galette with a stuffing made of ham, cheese and egg). By far, these galettes were the best we ate on the island.

Pouce-Pieds–Plage de Donnant–Fromage de chèvre de Sauzon

Far breton

There were also the houses with their cheery colored shutters and attractive hortensias in front; The sardine cannery. The crème de caramel au beurre salé (caramel cream made with salted butter) or with chocolate. Spider crabs. The agneau de Belle-Île (lamb raised on the island) with its delicate taste, which we enjoyed inside an eggplant crumble one night for dinner.

Belle-Île en mer was all of that: A short forty five minute ferry ride between Quiberon and Le Palais; an island 18 kilomers long and 9 kilometers wide with a charming rural character and a peaceful atmosphere; an amazing Indian summer by late August early September; a place special to Claude Monet, Arletty and Sarah Bernhardt; bike paths to tour the island, from beach to beach; fig trees; broom; delicious local foods; coastal walks that allowed to get wonderful views of the island.

After Tortola, it was also Lulu’s first vacation at the beach in France.

Unique and special.

Galette complète at Chez Renée’s

Plage de Donnant

So during the only two rainy days we had–who said it poured in Brittany?–I baked a chocolate and nut cake while Lulu played in the rain puddles. Because chocolate and rain always rhyme in my mind.

Because a vacation without chocolate is not a real vacation.

Right?

I hope you don’t mind the pictures. I snapped way too many. That’s what happens when I fall in love with a place.

Onto the chocolate cake. I will try to tell you more about the galettes next. With the farine de sarrasin (buckwheat flour) I brought back with me.

Chocolate and nut cake

Chocolate and nut cake

You need:

• 3 large eggs
• 1/3 cup (80 g) blond cane sugar
• Pinch of sea salt
• 4.5 oz (125 g) dark chocolate, chopped coarsely
• 6 tablespoons (85 g) unsalted butter, diced
• 1/3 cup hazelnut flour
• 1/3 cup almond meal
• Flour, to coat the mold
• Confectioner’s sugar, to dust

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 F and butter an 8-inch (21 cm) round mold. Coat with flour and tap the excess out; set aside.
• Place the chocolate and butter in a bowl. Place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and let melt, stirring.
• In a large bowl, beat the eggs with sugar and salt until the preparation has tripled in volume — for 8 minutes.
• Fold in the almond meal and hazelnut flour. Fold in the melted chocolate.
• Transfer this batter to the mold and bake the cake for 30 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes and unmold carefully.
• When ready to serve, dust with confectioner’s sugar. The cake should stay moist inside.